CRO VOTERS DEMONSTRATE MATURITY - INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS SAY

ZAGREB, Jan 25 (Hina) - Croatia's voters demonstrated at yesterday's presidential election a will for life in democracy and reaffirmed the maturity and motivation expressed at parliamentary elections earlier this month, the head of a Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly delegation said in Zagreb on Tuesday. It is a strong and indisputable message the voters have sent to their leaders and the international community, Senator Daniel Goulet told a press conference which gathered international observers. Goulet said Croatia's new authorities would now have to be quick in executing the responsible tasks necessary for the democratisation of the country, by exercising the equality of all Croatian citizens and through genuine regional cooperation. In doing so, Croatia will be given assistance from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Goulet said, adding the two elections held this month made Croatia a standard of comparison for democracy and the anchor of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe. According to the head of a Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitoring mission, Nikolaj Vulcanov, the pre-electoral campaign, administrative preparations, and election itself were covered by 300 international observers at 1,000 polling stations throughout Croatia and 24 in neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina. (hina) ha mm